Chad Pennington still striving to improve in 10th NFL season

Dolfans with a desire to see Chad Henne take over as starting quarterback are quick to point out Chad Pennington lacks the arm strength to make all the throws necessary in today’s NFL. So it might surprise them to learn coach Tony Sparano said Sunday Pennington’s arm strength is better than last year.

“(He’s) making throws a little easier that were uncomfortable last year,” Sparano said, “just because of physical strength and what (quarterbacks coach) David Lee has done with him from a fundamental standpoint.”

While Henne figures to get the majority of snaps in preseason and Sparano has said will become the starter sometime down the road, Sparano made it clear this is still Pennington’s team.

“Chad Pennington is our quarterback,” he said.

Pennington’s leadership skills and his penchant for fourth-quarter comebacks – bringing the Dolphins back against Oakland for a 17-15 win last year was the seventh of his career – have clearly impressed Sparano. But as he enters his 10th NFL season, Sparano was also impressed that Pennington keeps trying to improve in every way he can.

“Chad did a good job of strengthening his body (this year),” Sparano said. “That sounds easy, but when you’ve played as many years as he’s played, to get something out of the offseason both physically and fundamentally are important.

“Sometimes players get on in that age and that many years and you can’t tell him anything. This guy is not that way. He wants all the information he can get.”

It can be easy to forget that one year ago, Pennington was still a New York Jet. Released on Aug. 7, he joined the Dolphins two days later and had a crash course in learning the playbook. Remember, Miami lost its first two games, then won 11 of its last 14.

“It was 6 o’clock meetings every morning, and late meetings at night, and just a straight cram session,” he said. This year, he added, “Being able to have a spring where we go through quarterback school, and go through OTAs, we’ve got a little history now.

“I’m excited,” he added. “I’m excited about where we are. We’ve got a long way to go, and a big challenge in front of us.”